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  • Published: 17 May 2016
  • ISBN: 9781940436326
  • Imprint: Catapult
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $37.99

The Old Man at the Railroad Crossing and Other Tales

Selected and Introduced by Aimee Bender



In these tales, with one foot firmly planted in the present, Maxwell brings a certain sophisticated urbanity to the oral traditions of the fable and fairy tale. "The total effect is of something midway between the Brothers Grimm and Kafka, with perhaps a touch of Zen." (NYRB April 1966) While modern enough in locale and context, they are as old as humanity itself in what concerns them. And always that voice, the age old voice of the storyteller, the eternal magic of the speaking human voice. Such simplicity takes true artistry and Maxwell has that in spades.

  • Published: 17 May 2016
  • ISBN: 9781940436326
  • Imprint: Catapult
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $37.99

About the author

William Maxwell

William Maxwell (1908-2000) was born in Illinois. He was the author of a distinguished body of work: six novels, three short story collections, an autobiographical memoir and a collection of literary essays and reviews. A New Yorker editor for 40 years, he helped to shape the prose and careers of John Updike, John Cheever, John O'Hara, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Eudora Welty. His novel, So Long Tomorrow won the American Book Award, and in 1995 he received the PEN/Malamud Award.

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